Madonna's Flight to Egypt Cancelled

From al Bawaba:

Egyptian Parliament members have submitted an order to Government demanding that American singer Madonna be prohibited from entering Egyptian soil. Parliament members also included a number of other international singers on their list of people forbidden from entering Egypt and called on all their embassies abroad to not grant any of them visas into Egypt or be allowed to shoot any of their music videos on Egyptian soil.

The demand came after Madonna announced that she will celebrate the Jewish New Years in Israel and that she had converted to Judaism....

Nothing terribly new here. We already knew that you couldn't enter Iran, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE or Yemen with an Israeli-stamped passport. Now Egypt jumps on the band wagon (at least for high-profile jews). Big surprise.
(Via: Damian who notes, "The Egyptians have done the impossible: they've made me feel sorry for Madonna. (Or whatever she calls herself this week.)"

UPDATE: Pastorius at Christians United Against the New Anti-Semitism (CUANAS) has some further comments on this:

It might not be a big surprise to many of us, but it should come as a moral shock to our souls that there are entire countries, here in the 21st century, who are hanging a sign on their front door that says,

NO JEWS ALLOWED

I've always disliked Madonna's courting of controversial subject matter for the sake of publicity. It seems to me that Madonna has never really cared about the issues on which she speaks, but instead merely uses them like pawns in her game of world media domination.

Finally now, I can see a use for Madonna. I would imagine she's angry and disgusted by this situation. I'm guessing that maybe, even though Jack isn't surprised by the reality on the ground in the Arab world, Madonna might be almost wholly unaware of what's going on. Madonna probably thinks the Burkhas is a marvellous fashion statement.

Now that Madonna is a Jew, or whatever ever she is, she might recognize that this puts her in a real line of fire for the first time in her blessed life. All these years Madonna has ground her hips in protest against the oppression of women and minorities here in the United States, she's done so in complete freedom, with fabulous wealth and accolades for her efforts. In other parts of the world, Madonna would be showered with stones for her behavior, not riches.

Maybe this Jew thing will finally bring it home to her and her fame and fortune can be used by God to do what a thousand screaming blogger and the ADL, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Holocaust Museum, etc. have not been able to do. That is, make people aware of the plain fact that the Arab world is possesed by the terrible evil of anti-Semitism and the situation is frightening.

FURTHER UPDATE: Jane at Armies of Liberation points out this article that was censored from the print edition of the Middle East Times (The link won't take you directly to the article. Look for the title Madonna draws recruits to the Kabbalah):

The American pop singer Madonna’s much-publicized visit to Israel drew to a close on Monday with Israeli tourism minister Gideon Ezra thanking her for helping to boost the country’s flagging tourism industry.

But rather than a flood of new tourist arrivals to Israel, the singer’s five-day break has prompted a stream of new recruits to the Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Center, which organized the festival that drew her to Tel Aviv.

The Kabbalah Center has 24 branches across the globe and is one of the most controversial branches for the study of the Kabbalah – an ancient Jewish spiritual practice that has attracted a whole host of celebrity followers. Alongside Madonna, Britney Spears, Elizabeth Taylor, Demi Moore, Mick Jagger and, most recently, the Beckhams have all been spotted sporting the $26 red string bracelets sold by the Kabbalah Center to ward off the ‘evil eye.’

[...]

Given the current tendency in the West to jump on any new spiritual bandwagon, it is perhaps little wonder that the Kabbalah Center has seen a dramatic leap in membership, with high-profile celebrities abandoning Tibetan Buddhism and Scientology to join forces with Rabbi Berg.

I am not sure if this exactly confirms Pastorius' point above, but it seems like a related issue. Both the fadism of Pop music and the fadism of Alternative Religions are distractions from the true source of meaning:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.